Nostalgia
by incandescent 3 6 0
Summary: Looking back at the memories he'd made with his friends, particularly a certain brunette, Tommy couldn't help but feel a bit of nostalgia that settled at the pit of his stomach. One more year…Until then, he'd live on these very memories. T/L.


**Title – **Nostalgia

**Summary – **Looking back at the memories he'd made with his friends, particularly a certain brunette, Tommy couldn't help but feel a bit of nostalgia that settled at the pit of his stomach. One more year…Until then, he'd live on these very memories. Tommy/Lil.

**Pairing(s) – **Tommy/Lil, a bit of Chuckie/Angelica and Phil/Kimi

**Rating –** T

**Status – **Oneshot; Complete

**Important Notes – **First Rugrats/AGU story by yours truly, and I'm pretty damn excited to write this. T/L is my OTP, I swear to God. They're meant to be. Of course, that's just my opinion.

**Disclaimer – **I don't own Rugrats or All Grown Up!

**XXX**

It was no secret that Tommy loved cameras and everything related. His big dream was to be a film director. Video diaries were a big part of his life in his early pubescent years. He made one every chance he got, though it was hard at times; he couldn't really get a close up of some of the girls with them covering their faces and claiming themselves to be unphotogenic.

He disagreed with that claim. Kimi was very pretty, and she didn't look as bad on film as she thought she'd be. Though, Angelica was one of those girls that managed to get her face in every single frame if there was a camera anywhere near her, beaming and showing off a perfect row of white teeth. Susie was pretty humble with herself, not declaring herself to be beautiful nor ugly, but she still didn't like the camera too close to her.

And then there was Lil. She was very effervescent, in his perspective. She wasn't in many of his longer videos. Maybe shorter ones that he'd managed to get her in, but he only had one full length video about her. And the video contained a moment he'd remember for a long time.

Tommy shook the closet door slightly before budging it open and kneeling down. He divided the stack of shoeboxes on the bottom with his arms and drew forward a larger cardboard box by the sides. Pulling it out onto the carpeted floor, he crossed his legs and reached forward to open the flaps and peer inside.

In perfectly piled rows were dozens of videotapes, categorized and labeled. His eyes fell on a specific tape, titled "L – 6/24/00 – 12/25/03 – 3/14/06". He grabbed it and dragged himself over to the small, outdated television that stood on a short end table. His roommate constantly asked why he had such an old model, but Tommy only ever smiled and shrugged.

He liked to reminisce. He grew up with these types of TVs. Always in the play pen as an infant, he watched the odd nonsense portrayed to his young mind along with his mother, who sat on the couch, shouting demands at the characters every now and then and getting angry with their mistakes even though he'd been positively sure they couldn't hear her. Tommy shook his head, giving a slight chuckle at the memory.

He slipped the tape into the DVR and turned the television on. As the video buffered, he pulled his leg up to his chest and rested his chin on his knee. It'd been a few good months since he'd seen them…Besides Angelica, at least. She was family. He had to see her all the time whether he liked it or not.

Angelica had already graduated from this college two years prior with a Bachelor's Degree in aesthetics, the study of beauty. Big surprise, huh? Susie graduated with her the same year, earning her own degree in the performing arts. Chuckie had went to another college to study astronomy; the sky always reminded him of where his mother's soul rested. Kimi decided to take up a visual arts major, corresponding with her virtuosic personality. As for Phil and Dil, well…they took the easy route and only attended school for the minimum of two years before returning home.

And then there was Lil. She'd gotten an early sports scholarship during their junior year in high school. He knew she always had a thing for soccer, and she just couldn't say no to such an opportunity. Ever since then, he hadn't really heard much from her. Sure, the occasional video chat whenever he was with anyone else, like Kimi. It was like a punch to the stomach when the cold reality washed over him; he wouldn't be seeing much of her for a long while.

The video finished buffering, snapping his attention towards the briefly blue screen before the image picked up.

**xxx**

_Lil, Phil, and Dil were shown in front of a brick wall, presumably the side of a building. It was almost summer, and it seemed that was the week Lil dyed the strand of her hair a new shade of green._

_She giggled with excitement. "I can't believe we just did this." She clutched the picture against her chest as if it were a teddy bear, grinning with pink cheeks. Her eyes suddenly widened and her head whipped up, staring at the camera. "Tommy! Are you recording this!?"_

"_I gotta catch the moment, Lil," Tommy's young voice was perceived from behind the camera. Phil and Dil snickered._

"_We are so dead," Phil laughed._

"_You do know that this counts as evidence if my mother ever suspects that we skipped school," Lil said to Tommy, raising an eyebrow._

_The camera shuffled a bit, caused by Tommy's shrug. "I'll hide it. Besides, it's one of the last days of school. What're they gonna do, suspend us?"_

_Lil giggled again. "You are such a rebel."_

"_Well, you got what you wanted, didn't you?" Phil stepped into the shot, "An autograph from what's-his-name, now let's go get something to eat."_

_Lil scowled at him and prepared to inform him of her favorite soccer player's name, but Dil interrupted. "Oooh, maybe we could check the cornfield for crop circles."_

"_We did that yesterday, dude."_

"_There's still corn. That counts as food, right?"_

"_Yeah, but who eats raw corn?"_

"_You'd be surprised, my friend. In the olden days, corn was referred to as 'maize' and endearingly considered one of the three 'sister crops' –"_

"_Tommy," Phil turned to the camera, a desperate look on his face, "Please."_

_Lil chortled, "I'm pretty hungry." She smiled tenderly at the camera, her green eyes shining, "Let's go, Tommy."_

"_C'mon, lemme just –"_

"_Put the camera away."_

"_Catching the moment, Lillian."_

"_Thomas Malcom Pickles, put that camera aw – Gah, quit closing in on my face!"_

_He laughed at her and backed away. She failed at hiding her smile, small button nose scrunching up stubbornly as her eyes drifted to the side to look away from him._

**xxx**

The video stopped right there. It was just paused on her childishly irritated expression, one that he was familiarized with. And one that he hadn't seen for a long time. Another video followed up, this one taking place three years later than the last.

**xxx**

_Lil was curled up on the couch with her eyes glued to a book she held tightly in her hands. Her hair had gotten much longer and she seemed to have grown in height, but was still a few inches short of her brother, who laid sprawled on the floor with an exhausted expression and cookie crumbs all around his mouth. Christmas lights and decorations littered the walls and furniture._

"_Gugh," Phil groaned, rubbing his stomach. "I shouldn't've eaten those cookies so damn fast."_

"_Consequences~," Lil sang mockingly, glancing at him quickly before turning back to her book._

_Phil lolled his head to the side to send her a nasty glare, and then looked somewhere off camera. "I could've been the one baking the Christmas dinner, dude. The possibilities are hurting my heart."_

_Tommy was seen walking up and sitting beside his friend. He, too, had gotten taller. "Not my fault you wolfed down those cookies like they held the very essence of life."_

"_Deep," Lil commented._

"_What the hell are you reading, Lillian?" Phil crudely asked his sister._

"_For your information, it's a mystery-romance novel that Dad got me, I'm almost up to the part where they figure everything out. Now shut up."_

_Phil stared at her for a moment, and then at the camera. "Is that thing still running?"_

_Tommy looked at it with him. "The red light's still on, so yeah."_

_Phil gave him a grave expression. "Go get it."_

_Tommy furrowed his brows, lips quirking up into a suspicious smile. "Are you gonna do what I think you're gonna do?"_

"_Hell. Yes."_

_It didn't take long for the purple-haired teen to grab his camera and creep up behind Lil along with her brother. Phil adopted a mischievous smirk and tapped her left shoulder. When she turned around and huffed out an annoyed "What?" he reached over her right shoulder and ripped the very last page out, running like the wind afterwards._

"_PHILIP!" she shrieked. A growl escaped her mouth and her fists trembled. She looked at Tommy with a hard scowl, "If you don't want me to hate you forever, please aid me in running after that idiot."_

_He laughed. "With pleasure. The only reason I helped was to see you maul him afterwards."_

_The scowl softened and she giggled unintentionally. She covered her mouth and placed a hand over the lens of the camera, encasing the image in darkness. "Why do you always happen to have this thing on when I laugh like that!?" she could be heard asking Tommy._

"_Call it Lil-intuition."_

"_Oh, shut up. Now let's go get that dork for ruining my ending."_

**xxx**

That was the end of the second video. It began to trigger even more memories. And the very last video is the one that Tommy remembered the most. This was the long one. This was the day she'd been given the scholarship.

**xxx**

_A soccer field was shown from a seat on one of the front bleachers. It was left mostly deserted, and loud chatter could be heard from the half-full stadium. It looked to be early in the morning. Kimi walked up within the shot, glancing towards the left before looking up at Tommy, who manned the camera. She now held her hair up in a single ponytail rather than the pigtails she once wore. "She's really hyper today. Phil better not've given her coffee again."_

"_Don't worry," Phil appeared beside her, drinking a cup of espresso, "It was decaf."_

"_And," Kimi pointed at his drink, raising an eyebrow, "Is that decaffeinated, too?" Phil slowly lowered the cup from his mouth, staring at her, but not answering. He seemed to be twitching a little bit._

_Kimi face-palmed, shaking her head, "I've gotta put some sort of bell on you."_

"_Hey guys," Tommy said, "Where's Chuckie?"_

_Angelica came up and sat down, "He's in the bathroom."_

"_Aww, you came to see Lil play?" Kimi jibed, grinning at the blonde. Angelica glared at her._

"_No. You begged me to come, remember?"_

"_Oh. Yeah. Well, you still came. Baby steps."_

"_I'm here!" Chuckie stumbled over, a piece of toilet paper stuck to one of his untied sneakers, "Did the game start yet?"_

"_No, you dork," Angelica rolled her eyes and averted her gaze from him. "Your shoes."_

_Chuckie blushed and looked down, hastily ripping off the paper and awkwardly sitting as far away from her as possible without separating from the group. Kimi smiled and put a hand on his shoulder, sitting with him. Phil then subconsciously sat next to Kimi, and a bit close at that, Tommy noticed with a sneer._

"_Oh – Guys, look! The scouts just got here!" Kimi said excitedly, pointing towards two adults that were seated a few rows below them._

"_Wow," Tommy commented, "They look so serious."_

"_Of course they do! They're talent scouts; only looking for the best," Kimi smirked pompously, "Which, in this case, would be Lil."_

_The game was to start in another five minutes. Lil bounced up to the group with an effervescent grin. Her hair was tied up tightly with a small pink bow in contrast to her green soccer uniform, and Tommy couldn't help but think it was cute. After all, he did have a thing for pink bows._

"_Hey! You all came," Lil looked at Angelica, and raised an eyebrow smugly, "Even you."_

"_Don't get a big head, Deville, I only came for the cheap hotdogs," Angelica said dryly._

_Lil laughed nonetheless, and then noticed four out of the five smiling quite widely at her. She blinked. "What?"_

"_Nothing," Phil answered nonchalantly, looking to the side._

_She narrowed her eyes at the group. "Guys."_

"_Oh, look, the game is starting," Kimi pointed towards the field where the players were beginning to line up. The coach called Lil's name, and she started to jog away._

_Tommy leaped off his seat and grabbed her arm before she left, "Wait!"_

_She whipped her head around to face him, surprised, and waited for him to continue. He gave her a very small smile, "Give 'em your all."_

_She high-fived him. "Always." And then she dashed off onto the field eagerly._

_Tommy couldn't say he'd ever seen her play better. She truly brought her A-game. The way she twisted and turned and mocked her opponents with that blindingly bright smile of hers amazed him. Her wavy brown locks swished with her every movement, still tied tightly with the bow. She made the sport of soccer seem so easy. Every instinct that lashed out of her whenever she was deep into the game was the right move. If this wasn't enough to convince those talent scouts, than he wasn't sure what was._

_The fact was that Lil had no idea that they'd contacted the scouts to see her. Kimi was so excited when they agreed to come, and containing the squeals of happiness for her best friend was proven very difficult for the Japanese teen._

_The game had finished in barely a flash. The scoreboard read:_

_**Home: **__21_

_**Visitors: **__19_

_The crowd erupted into thunderous applause as the winning team, which included Lil, laughed and hugged each other. They won the championship. The team hoisted Lil up as she held the trophy in her hands, proudly beaming at the group. Tommy didn't think he'd ever seen her so happy. Her cheeks were flushed and her vibrant green eyes seemed to stand out amongst everything._

_Phil, Kimi, and Chuckie were cheering and clapping loudly, and even Angelica, though quietly and with subtlety, smiled and clapped for the brunette._

_After some five minutes, the teams began to disperse, and Lil ran back over to the five, panting. "Guys," she pointed at the trophy exaggeratedly, "Can you say mega-super-happy? Because I'm MEGA-SUPER-HAPPY." Kimi giggled and jumped off her seat to hug Lil. And the rest of the four, Angelica a bit reluctantly, went up to congratulate her._

_A hand tapped Lil's shoulder, and she turned around to face a professional-looking businessman and woman. "Lillian Deville?" the woman asked politely._

_Lil furrowed her brows and nodded slowly._

_The corners of the woman's mouth pulled up into a small smile. "We'd like to have a word with you."_

_Lil, taken aback, glanced at the group of five, who only looked around and whistled casually, and then back at the adults. "Okay." She walked off with them, throwing a suspicious look over her shoulder._

_A few seconds passed once she was gone._

"_SHE'S SO GONNA GET THIS," Kimi burst, fists balling up with anticipation._

_Phil placed a hand on her shoulder, "Now, are you sure you aren't the one who didn't drink decaf this morning?" She half-glared-half-grinned at him, and swatted his hand off playfully._

_The video then cut to another scene._

"_I love all of you." The seriousness in Lil's voice was evident. It was probably an hour later, and the stadium was mostly empty save for the group of six and a few other players with their own friends. "Really, I want to hug and squeeze the life out of all of you because I love you so damn much." She turned to Angelica, who stood with her arms crossed, "Even you." Angelica rolled her eyes._

"_Yeah, yeah, we love you, too. Now what'd they say?" Phil asked crudely. Kimi elbowed his side harshly._

_Lil answered nonetheless, unperturbed by her brother's discourteous manner. She hesitated, tugging at her bow, and then released a sigh. Biting her lip, an action that caused Tommy to clear his throat meekly in the background, she said, "So…they offered me a scholarship."_

"_Yes! I knew they would! You're all set after graduation!" Kimi's smile faltered when she saw the crooked expression on Lil's face. Kimi frowned. "Why aren't you happy?"_

"_It's not that I'm not happy," Lil immediately dismissed the misconception. "It's just that…How do I say this?" she asked, mostly to herself._

"_What's the downside of a scholarship?" Chuckie questioned._

"_The downside is that they want me to start…right away." She joined her hands and her eyes drifted towards the ground. "The only way I can accept this scholarship is if I skip senior year and start college right after this summer."_

_Silence._

_Uncomfortable silence, actually._

"…_You're gonna reject it, right?" Phil asked solemnly._

_She stayed quiet, but then looked him in the eye. "I will never get a chance as good as this one for years to come, Philip."_

"_That doesn't mean you have to miss an entire year of school. Isn't that bad for the system anyways?"_

"_My grades are nearly straight A's and my record is perfect; I'm qualified to skip a grade."_

"_It doesn't mean you have to."_

"_Philip, do you even understand the situation at hand? If I accept this offer, I have an incredibly great chance of becoming a pro! You, being my brother, know how long I've only dreamed of something like this."_

_His jaw tightened. "Fine. Do whatever the hell you want."_

_Tommy had long since forgotten the camera was still running, until he saw the red light blinking. Deciding now was not the time to be filming, he dragged his hand over and shut it off._

**xxx**

Tommy was in college now. The start of his senior year, actually. And he was pretty sure Lil had graduated a few months prior due to her early start. Chuckie graduated then, too. He'd talked to his socially awkward friend over the phone about a week after the graduation. Kimi, he was sure, was in the same year Tommy was. And Phil was somewhere back in their home town, and he decided to live near his parents. Susie, Angelica, and Dil, separately, had done the same.

Anytime he could afford to visit home during the summer, he was stuck with a job to save up for the next year's textbook and other miscellaneous supplies. But it was still good because every so often he saw most of his friends. Most.

Lil, to his dismay, could only come at a certain time during summer, towards August, which happened to be the time when Tommy had to go back to his college.

Tommy laid back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

One more year. One more year and he'd see them again. All of them. And they'd all be together again, just like the good ol' times. He chuckled to himself.

Yep. Just another year.

***One Year Later***

"Oh," Didi whimpered, dabbing her nose with a tissue, "My little boy." Beside her sat Stu, who put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, then Dil, Drew, Charlotte, and Angelica. They were at Tommy's graduation, and were waiting for his name to be called. The family behind Angelica was babbling indecently. They quickly ceased all conversation when her cold, glaring blue eyes pierced through them.

"…Henry Phelps…Thomas Pickles –"

"Yeah, go Tommy!" Dil shouted inappropriately, earning some scowls from the audience and a typical roll of the eyes from Angelica. Tommy smirked at his little brother as he walked across the stage and received his diploma. Didi, who was an emotional wreck at this point, sobbed and blew her nose loudly with the tissue.

After the ceremony was over and the graduates were heading outside on the campus and talking with their families. When Tommy came up and prepared to say something, Didi cut him off with a bone crushing hug. "My little boy!"

Tommy wheezed out a laugh, and patted his mother on the back, "Thanks, Mom. Now…can I breathe?"

"Oh–! Of course." She backed away and sniffled, continuing rub her nose with the tissue.

Stu then took his turn and hugged Tommy a bit more gently than Didi, but before he could say anything, Drew beat him to it. "Well," Drew said, crossing his arms, "Looks like Stu finally has something to be proud of."

Charlotte elbowed his side. "We agreed you'd stay quiet until we got in the car," she growled, though her anger still wasn't visible with the permanent smile on her face.

Angelica fidgeted beside them. "You did good," she muttered, stubbornly looking away.

"Thanks, Angelica," Tommy said, still smiling good-naturedly, and then teased, "Got any graduation gifts for me?"

"Oh, shut up," she grimaced briefly, then said, "There's no gift, but there _is_ a surprise waiting for you at home."

Tommy turned to his parents, furrowing his brows, "Surprise?"

"Well, we should be heading out now. C'mon Tommy," Stu swerved his son's questioning stature and led everyone to the seperate cars he and Drew had drove to the college in.

Inside of her parents' car, Angelica rolled down the window as Tommy was preparing to seat himself in the other car. She smirked at him, "You'll like this surprise."

...

"We're here," Stu announced. As he pulled into the driveway, he sighed, "It's been forever since we were all together, hasn't it?"

"Weren't we together last Christmas?" Dil asked, playing with the fluffy ball at the tip of his hat in boredom.

Stu and Didi shared a look, which Tommy happened to notice as they got out of the car and began walking towards the front door. "What's going on, you two? Why are you smiling at me like that? What's – Hey! Why'd you cover up my eyes!?" Charlotte went forward and opened up the door as Didi held her palms tightly over Tommy's eyes.

"He's here!" he heard someone shout.

"Susie?" Tommy questioned. Didi released her hold on him and he was greeted by what was thought to be millions of hugs.

"Pickles has returned," Susie announced.

"The gang's all here," Phil said, smiling at his friends. He looked moderately the same, but he'd grown a bit taller, towering a mere inch over Tommy himself and probably the same height as Chuckie.

Angelica raised an eyebrow, looking towards the dining table. "Are those tater tots? Did you make _tater tots_?" she asked him.

Phil glared at her, "Is there something _wrong _with that, dear Angelica?"

By then she was already at the table, mouth full with a half eaten tater tot in her hand. She shrugged, "Not really."

"Hey! Don't eat them all! Goddammit, Angelica!"

Kimi then came into view. "_Hey_! Been a while." She embraced Tommy, and then, with a grin, nodded her head towards Phil, who was arguing with Angelica, "He finally asked me out last week, wouldn't you know it."

Tommy scoffed, "Only Phil takes ten years to go for it."

Kimi giggled and smacked his shoulder. "Shut up. He's so cute about it, too. Says he didn't want to ruin our friendship."

"That _is_ pretty fluffy."

"Why are we talking about fluff?" Chuckie asked, appearing beside the two. Tommy wasted no time and engulfed his friend in a hug similar to his mother's. "G-Gah, can I, um, you know - _breathe_?" the redhead gagged. Tommy laughed and released him, smiling.

"I missed you, buddy."

Chuckie chuckled, rubbing his now sore torso, "You'd think _I'd_ be the one to hug you like that."

"So I need to ask," Tommy said, "Have you scored any points with Angelica yet?"

Chuckie's cheeks fired up in a furious red and his eyes widened. He pushed up the rim of his glasses, "W-Where would you get an idea like that!?"

"I'm just playing with you," Tommy laughed and patted his shoulder. "Though it is suspicious that you reacted in such a dramatic way."

"*cough*He likes her*cough*," Kimi cleared her throat and looked off to the side innocently. Chuckie scowled at her, but said nothing more.

Tommy's eyes wandered all over the kitchen, where they were currently in, "Hey, so where's –"

"Me? Why, I'm right here," a familiar voice said. Someone, a girl, he was sure, by their small stature, tackled him with a hug. "I'm surprised you don't have your camera out. Better for me so that you don't catch that stupid giggle of mine."

Tommy's brain began working again, and his eyes widened, "Lil."

"That's my name." Lil released him from her grip and crossed her arms, pursing her lips as she studied his appearance, "Christ, you've gotten taller."

Tommy, still a bit shocked by her sudden greeting, stiffly said, "Yeah, I...I've been drinking a lot of milk." He mentally smacked himself.

Apparently, she found the awkward answer charming and laughed. "I've missed you. But why do you have that look on your face? Seen a ghost or something?"

"N-No, you just caught me by surprise."

"Hey, lovebirds!" Angelica barked from the dining table, "We're all gonna go out for lunch today. Grab your stuff and let's go."

Tommy inexplicably blushed. Lil didn't notice, thank the heavens, and snatched her jacket, rocketing past him. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts from their disoriented state and stumble on with everyone outside.

...

"I cannot believe you guys still have this place running," Tommy said, sliding into a booth to sit with Phil, Lil, Dil, Susie, and Angelica.. They'd come back to Java Lava, and apparently Chuckie and Kimi returned to working part time.

"We had a bit of a rough time without these two helping us," Chaz motioned to his children, "But we still managed to keep it up."

Betty slapped a hand on Phil's shoulder, emitting a girly squeak from the man, "Yep, Phil here's even thinking about joining the crew."

He chuckled rasply, "By force." Betty shook her head and left along with the other adults to another booth.

"_Woo_, there's still WiFi," Susie said, sighing happily and holding her phone over her heart, "That's the good stuff."

"So what should we get to eat?" Lil asked, inspecting the menu. Tommy stared as she pursed her lips, and for a moment his mind wandered to a scenario where he'd spontaneously kiss her, with her lips puckered just like that.

Oh...that's just sick of him to think of his childhood friend in such a way. Yep, he's a creep. He internally insulted himself while Kimi came over to take their orders. After writing down in her small notebook, she bounced off to the kitchen. Phil smiled goofily, watching her retreating figure, "Doesn't she look cute in an apron?"

"Ew," Angelica muttered, pulling a face.

"Aw, shut up," Lil said to her, "I think it's adorable how he's so in love with Kimi. He finally fessed up that he's had feelings for her for a really long time. Now that takes guts. If only someone _else_ could follow in his footsteps."

Tommy choked on his water, launching him into a coughing fit as Lil innocently twirled a piece of her hair, seemingly oblivious that he was nearly suffocating to death.

Angelica sighed with frustration and looked towards the counter, where Chuckie was working. Her face hardened into a scowl when she saw him blush and stutter at a pretty girl that had walked up to him asking for an extra straw. She shoved Phil out of the booth and onto the floor to slide out, ignoring the weird faces that the others sent him. Except Susie. Susie was sneering at her. Phil rubbed his back, glaring at the three that were left, "Thanks, guys. Thanks for leaving me to sit next to her."

Angelica snatched the straw out of Chuckie's hand the split second before it could touch the girl's hand. Angelica turned to her and handed it over herself, "Here." The girl furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and slowly walked away.

"What was _that_ about?" Chuckie asked, glaring at her.

"What's the damage, Finster? I was just looking out for you," her smile was so smug. She and him both knew she'd just ruined his chances of getting somewhere with that girl.

"Ugh," he shook his head, rubbing his temples.

"I didn't come over here just to do that, you know. My life doesn't depend on you," she crossed her arms. Her eyes wandered over to the counter with supplies on it. "I, uh...I need one of those top-thingies for my drink."

He followed her gaze and then looked back at her with a raised eyebrow, "I thought we already gave you one."

"Well, I want _another_ one."

He wasn't convinced, but gave her a cover anyway. And she walked back to her booth, now sitting in the corner as Phil was pushed inside. Susie had noticed the awkward tension between Lil and Tommy. Seeing as she was directly in between the two, she tapped Tommy's shoulder and asked him to stand up so she could leave the booth. Now it was just the two of them, sitting next to each other on the same side.

"So what've you been up to since, you, um, graduated?" Tommy asked Lil.

She shrugged, eyes wandering to the ceiling, "Not much. I haven't gotten very far in the sports field, so...I'm just in a blank right now."

"That surprises me," he said, "You're one of the best athletes I know."

She smiled softly at him, "Thanks. But, I mean, it's like a one-in-a-million chance to get picked up by a professional team. Maybe I'll get noticed later, maybe not. It is what it is." She leaned back in her seat, pulling up a smirk at him, "How's that love life of yours?"

Tommy exhaled, shaking his head, "I haven't had much of one the past few years."

She looked him up and down, and blankly said, "I refuse to believe that."

"I-I don't know. I just really can't focus on girls anymore. It's weird, because that's my life used to revolve around."

She giggled, "That's because you were going through puberty, so it hit you harder."

"That makes sense. I don't really feel like...I should settle down with a girl again. It's just gonna end in another period of tissues and sad movies. And the cycle will repeat itself."

"You don't know that for _sure_."

Tommy looked at her, "What do you mean?"

"Look at Chaz and Kira for instance. Neither of them expected to find love before they met each other. And now here they are, still in love after what? A little more than twenty years? I say you should view the glass as half full instead f half empty."

He chuckled, "You're good at making analogies. I see your point, but it still makes me wonder whether or not I'll meet that special girl yet."

Frowning, she slurped some of her smoothie, "Maybe you already have."

His throat clogged up with a lump for second, then he swallowed and scratched his neck awkwardly. Lil's gaze drifted over to him, and she laughed good naturedly.

Tommy didn't know how he'd start his life from then on. But he was sure he wanted to start it with someone special. That special girl. As he watched Lil's eyes sparkle for the first time in years, he wished he had his camera to capture the moment.

**END**


End file.
